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Footwork andp omp ons
By Susie Reitz
With basketballs bouncing in the back
ground, the UNL Yell Squad works daily in
the Coliseum for the approaching basket
ball season.
With football season drawing to a close,
the squad prepares more dance and intri
cate footwork routines, captain Sandy
Weyer of Columbus said.
Veteran cheerleader Nancy Mohrman of
Fargo, NJ)., explained the difference be
tween football and basketball routines. "In
football you have to use exaggerated moves
so even people in the 95th row can see
them. In basketball you're closer to the
crowd and don't have as much room to
work."
Football cheers are done with pompons,
but the shakers are used only in pregame
routines for basketball.
Eleven on squad
The squad consists of eight women and
three men. Members are: Julie Hurt, Fre
mont; Nanci Jones, Omaha; Penny Legate,
Ogallala; Kevin Meyer, Beatrice; Morhman;
Rhonda Shepard, South Sioux City; Garry
Smith, Sioux City, Iowa; Jill Wanamaker,
Rock Port, Mo.; Weyer; Janie Whitfield,
Omaha; and Gary Willets, Lexington.
The squad travels to all out of state con
ference football games, yell leader Willets
said.
"WeVe gone to non-conference games,
too, like Wisconsin last year," Smith said,
"but we had to find our own way. For con
ference games we travel with the pep
band." Nebraska didn't play any away non
conference games this year.
"We usually leave early in the morning
and come back right after the game,"
Weyer said.
The Yell Squad travelled with the march
ing band to the Sugar Bowl last year and
stayed in Loyola University dormitories in
New Orleans.
Uniforms passed down
Uniforms are passed down from year to
year, but the squad members must buy
their own shoes, socks and some of the
accessories.
"A lot of people don't realize that we
have to get new pompons every other
game," Mohrman said. "You just shake
them apart."
Cheering is most frightening the first
time, Kevin Meyers said, adding, "You sort
of get used to it after a while."
"The first couple of games are scary, un
til you realize that not all of the 76,000
people in the stadium are looking at you,"
said Willets.
Basketball different
"Basketball is different because you can
hear the crowd," Smith, the only veteran
on the squad, said. 'The football crowds
are hard to organize."
When the crowd is not as enthusiastic,
Smith said, he acts "more crazy" to get
their attention and start chants.
Part of the attention-getting includes
wearing an old raccoon coat over his red
and white striped sweater and waving an
old golf hat.
"We try to show our excitement and
how psyched we are for the game," Willets
said. ?
Dance steps and chants
"We're more pompon squad than a
cheerleading squad," said first-year cheer
leader Whitfield. "We do more dancing and
short chants than long cheers."
To add variety to old routines, the
squad is adding new dance steps from the
Hustle and the Bump to their routines,
Weyer said.
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Photo by Kevin Higtty
Julie Hurt, sophomore from Fremont, is one of eight women on Yell
Squad.
The UNL squad is the only Big 8 unit
with "The Step in its routines, Weyer said.
Demonstrating The Step, Morhman ex
plained "you step on the ball of your foot
and sort of rock back on first one foot
then the other but your heels don't touch
the ground. It's really hard on your legs."
Wanamaker said, 'The Step was the
hardest thing to leam for cheerleading try
outs," and Whitfield added, "it's even
harder when you try to put it with arm
movements before you have it learned."
Cheerleader selections
Cheerleader candidates learn two com
plete routines. Semi-finalists are chosen
from try outs with former cheerleaders and
final selection is based on individual per
formance, Weyer said. Adviser William
Murphy makes the selection.
Candidates attend practice every week
day for a month until selections are made
shortly before spring break, Weyer said.
The original 100 women trying out are
reduced to about 40 by the end of the
month.
For yell king tryouts, the male candi
dates must do i cheer of their own creation
and four lifts. About a dozen tried out for
the positions last year, Smith said.
Men practice for about two weeks be
fore spring break, Smith said.
"After spring break is when the real
work comes in," he said. 'The girls try to
learn a routine a day and leam about 20
different routines before school is out."
Weyer said squad members are eval
uated throughout the year and are asked
back if they do a good job.
Dexter Grecn Iowa State's freshman ttflnek, scored his first touch- Junior split end Bobby Thomas (8) is one of Nebraska's leading re-
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